


a boy, and some circumstances

by atsueshi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 14:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7055434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atsueshi/pseuds/atsueshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yachi does not know how to deal with a crush. Kind of. Well, she does, but not really, but that's not the point!</p><blockquote>
  <p>Yachi is a klutz not by nature but by nerves. The problem is just the teeny-tiny fact that it doesn’t take much to rattle her. At all.</p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	a boy, and some circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> lemme indulge in some tsukkiyachi because i've damn well earned it goddammit

Yachi is a klutz not by nature but by nerves. Honestly, on her best days, she could walk across _five_ blocks separating the station and the school and cross twice as many streets without falling or tripping even once.

Well, okay, fine, _maybe_ she trips once or twice, but that’s not the point! The point is that Yachi isn’t clumsy _all the time._ There are just certain things in life that rattle her, and cause her to be clumsy. She’s not always a klutz! Really!

The problem is just the teeny-tiny fact that it doesn’t take much to rattle her. At all. There was that one time her eraser slipped from her grip in the middle of a test, and she spent the rest of the period in cold sweat, trying very hard not to look in front of her where the eraser landed in fear of the teacher misconstruing the act and accusing her of cheating, because that would not have been good for her reputation! And what would the people say about the volleyball team if she gets found cheating? That would be bad for the volleyball team, too! And the timing is just as terrible, because the team just won the prefecturals and _oh_ what would Kiyoko-san say? _This is terrible!_ (She had to submit her paper with lots of cross-outs, and it was the most aesthetically displeasing exam she had ever sat. She cried while explaining this to Hinata and Kageyama and for the first time in living memory, both boys had nothing to say.)

So it’s pretty obvious how Yachi is so very jealous of Tsukishima Kei.

Tsukishima, with his calm façade and his level-headedness, the way his eyes always seem to see everything and miss nothing… Yachi is amazed at how steady his voice is even when completely aggravated by other people. His voice remains in its silken low tone, unwaveringly flat, save for the slight hint of amusement it projects when Tsukishima is taunting somebody, or making a very bad joke. And his height! He’s _too tall!_ Surely it wouldn’t hurt to spare Yachi maybe just a few centimetres and get her out of the 150s? And he’s smart, too, and he’s got soft, fluffy hair, and he looks so cool when he does that thing with the eyeglasses, when he fixes it on his nose and his finger has to push it up, and his eyes are so pretty in the light, and he’s actually _very_ good-looking—

At this thought Yachi squeals, trips over her own foot, drops the rather heavy box she’s carrying on her _other_ foot and promptly turns her squeal into a loud, full scream. It takes all of two seconds for her to stop yelling, but the pain is too much and it feels like her foot got cut in half and it _hurts a lot!_

For a moment she hears Hinata’s worried voice call out “Yachi-san!” She tries to answer back (“I’m fine, just dropped a box on my foot and cleaved my bones open!”) but Yachi closes her eyes against the painful throbbing in her foot, and in her momentary blindness she falls out of balance and rams headfirst into the gym’s other (apparently closed) door.

Then she blacks out, remembering nothing more than the wiry arms that lift and carry her somewhere.

Blearily she thinks, _Oh, I hope I don’t die_.

 

* * *

 

When Yachi wakes, her head feels tender and squishy and heavy from the bandages, and the fading light from the window of the school infirmary tells her it’s just about time to go home.

She groans, and tries to sit up, only to feel a sharp pang of surprise buzz through her spine when she hears the movement from her other side and the stern voice that reprimands her, one that she knows all too well. The sound of it makes her want to turn tail and run.

Or blush.

Or both.

Gentle hands grab her. “Please don’t move too suddenly, Yachi-san, you had a bad fall.”

(Both. _Definitely_ both.)

Yachi falls back into the bed; the hands let go, but they were so warm. She instead stares at the ceiling and then shuts her eyes closed.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why had she fallen again? Oh, right, because she hit the door when she closed her eyes in pain when she dropped the box on her foot when she tripped over her _other_ foot after thinking about how attract—

No. No, no, no, nonono _nononono._  She is _not_ going to think about that again. She should instead say sorry, because it’s very late and Tsukishima Kei is here beside her and she is obviously inconveniencing him, and _where was Tadashi?!_ Oh, no, she probably caused Tsukishima to go have to go home alone and what if he’s robbed along the way and he doesn’t make it to class tomorrow or _ever—_

She groans again, and stutters all throughout her apology. “I-I’m sorry, Tsu-Tsukishima-kun! You shouldn’t h-have waited!” She notices how weak her voice is, and oh, this is all so dumb, how could such a misfortune befall her?

It takes a lot of willpower to open her eyes and look at Tsukishima, who, Yachi notices, is looking at her intensely. For a moment she wonders how good it looks on him, how a different expression enhances his features, brings it into sharp relief against his pale skin and fine cheeks.

For a moment, she gets why her classmates have huge crushes on the tall middle blocker.

(That particular moment does not leave her at all.)

She feels the heat climb up her cheeks, and her head starts hurting again, but she finds that she can’t _not_ look back. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Yachi is thinking how handsome he is, how handsome he is, he's _so handsome_. “T-Tsuki...shi...ma-kun?”

The intensity in his eyes disappears in a trice, and he looks away. Yachi doesn’t, because Yachi can’t, because Tsukishima just reached down and slung his _and her_ bags across his shoulders and held his hand out. “Do you feel better, Yachi-san?” Oh, his voice is lovely... “I’ll walk you home now. Are you alright? Can you walk?”

_Oh, no._

“I-I’m fine, Tsukishima-kun, you don’t have to walk home with me!” To prove her point, Yachi quickly clambers out of bed. Her head spins the moment she’s upright, so she grabs on really tightly to the railings to avoid falling flat on her face again; with enough determination she faces Tsukishima and smiles. “I can walk! I can—”

Yachi's knee gives and she falls. Again.

“—Not walk,” he finishes for her.

Yachi does not know how he did it, but in an instant Tsukishima is there beside her, warm and sturdy and looming, and he catches her by the waist and elbow and gently steers her back to the edge of the bed.

(And he doesn’t let go.)

(And Yachi is painfully aware of the heat of his palms on her waist. And the beat of her heart. And the awkward, _awkward_ silence.)

(And so is Tsukishima, apparently, if the colouring of his cheeks were anything to go by.)

Yachi doesn't know what to say. "Um—" 

“YACHI-SAN!”

The doors to the infirmary burst open and she wheels around just as Hinata comes barrelling in. Behind him, the rest of the team: Daichi-san, Suga-san, Nishinoya-senpai, Tanaka-senpai, Ennoshita-san and Kinnoshita-san and Asahi-san and Tadashi and even Kiyoko-san! Soon it becomes apparent to Yachi that the whole team is around, even the Coach, and Yachi feels like crying because she’s caused so much trouble but also because they’re all here for her and they care, and she turns back to Tsukishima _and their faces are so close she could have kissed him—_

“Yachi-san! You’re awake! We’re here to take you home now!” Hinata stands behind Tsukishima and grins at her, Yachi can’t move. Tsukishima is still _so very close._

She can smell him, and he smells nice. It’s a sweaty smell, but his perfume mixes perfectly with his natural scent. Yachi doesn’t notice how still and silent the team is behind her, except for Hinata who remains oblivious as ever.

Slowly, she feels Tsukishima remove his hands from her waist and move his face away from hers. He takes his scent and warmth with him. Yachi doesn’t notice she misses it until he stands tall in front of her and offers his hand again.

She takes it. It is cold now. She stands and wobbles a bit.

Yachi’s head throbs. There isn’t much she can think of... “T-thank you for staying,” she manages to mumble, and she almost feels like crying, saved only by Suga-san (angel, godsend, the answer to all her prayers) who claps his hands and says, “Well, it seems Hitoka-chan is alright! Let’s go get some pork buns to celebrate! My treat!”

They make their way out, led by Hinata and Kageyama cheering and bickering loudly; everyone else trails after the two, talking to each other in a muted and pleasant hum. Yachi stumbles here and there, but for a moment she wonders why she doesn’t outright trip and fall over.

(It’s simple, really. Tsukishima is holding her hand tight.)

(It takes hours for Yachi to get it.)

And _no_. Yachi is _still_ not a klutz. It’s just circumstances!

(And a boy.)

(But more circumstances!)


End file.
